Workshop recap: Harnessing the power of storytelling in research

One of our objectives is to build a community of actively engaged experts who collaborate with UKRI to improve research and innovation (R&I) funding, support strategies, and interventions. With this in mind, we developed a two-day ‘Writing your Research for Policy Engagement’ workshop at The Shard with Dr Anna Ploszajski from Storyology.  

Working collaboratively with our funders – UKRI, Innovate UK, and ESRC – and Anna, we designed a workshop tailored to meet the needs of different audiences. Over the two days we explored how the art of storytelling can be used as a powerful tool to help researchers communicate actionable insights from their research in ways that resonate with policymakers and funding stakeholders.  

We started the workshop by discussing why telling a story in research is important before moving onto to the components of a good research story. Attendees were then provided with their own toolkit which included models to think about when crafting their research stories as well as to how to apply some of the techniques, such as the ‘Before, So, Now and Next’ model. 

We also drew on the expertise of some of our funding stakeholders – Sarah Honeybone, Jaime Tinker, Maria Zhitkov, Lucy Gresley, and Lyuba Dimitrova – through interactive panel discussions. Researchers had the opportunity to hear first-hand what funders are looking for from their research, how they can start to tailor the insights to the audiences they’re trying to reach, and how they can begin to communicate the value of their work.  

Here’s what Jaime Tinker, Research Lead, Innovate UK, had said about the event: 

“The IRC storytelling event was a great chance to make new connections with researchers, and strengthen existing ones. As was discussed throughout the course, building relationships between different actors is key to being heard and having impact. The sessions provided great practical tips on how different audiences may need to receive information, and it was great to be able to add some insight into that discussion.” 

The event was attended by 36 researchers from across our Flex Fund projects. Attendees shared in our impact feedback survey that they gained skills on how to:  

• use storytelling to transform their research into easy to understand and relatable stories for UKRI and policymaker audiences  

• apply storytelling techniques, such as, the story arc, to structure ideas clearly 

• frame findings, create concise summaries (from four sentences to one page), and adapt their writing for different audiences 

It was also great to hear from some of our attendees about how the workshop helped enhance their storytelling knowledge. 

“I really enjoyed the storytelling workshop. The most helpful part was to rethink how to present my research to policy makers and practitioners, not just the highlights, but to convey a message that is engaging and timely. I am always hesitant about how to share my research with others. There is a bit of impostor syndrome, I suppose, and I feel that after the workshop, I gained the confidence to create actionable insights, which are relevant to what they are doing. I now know that I need to make my research accessible for the audience that I want to engage with. Also, the workshop was a great opportunity to engage with other researchers, get to know their projects, and share some mutual advice.” 

Dr Francisco Javier Trincado Munoz, Oxford Brookes University 

“The storytelling workshop really shifted how I think about sharing my research. I used to focus on facts and structure; now I see the power of story in making people actually care. It gave me simple tools and confidence to connect with my audience, whether it is a grant panel or a room full of students.” 

Dr Abdullah Ijaz, University of Greenwich  

“My experience at the storytelling event was both enlightening and informative. Firstly, the notion of storytelling and the ways (methods) to do so as a way of communicating one’s research ideas, was alien to me. Secondly, being taught and being made aware of the need to start with the right scale when communicating a research idea/problem for one’s research to be seen as credible is an important piece of information that I will certainly utilise.”  

Dr Michael Henry, University of Birmingham  

Final reflection on the event:

 “There is a wealth of evidence from impact professionals and researchers alike that narrative techniques help frame research in ways that is memorable, relatable, and actionable—particularly for policymakers and funding stakeholders. For other projects looking to use storytelling as a tool to build capacity in articulating insights from their research, a key reflection would be to involve your target stakeholder audiences from the outset and invite them to participate at your event. Using this approach allowed our workshop to go beyond using storytelling to simply distilling complex findings into compelling insights; it created space for researchers and stakeholders to engage in open, and honest dialogue about what works best in their respective environments and how to navigate those effectively using the art of storytelling.”  

Sachin Anand, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager

Overall, we’re delighted that the workshop empowered participants to become more effective storytellers and communicators, increasing the likelihood of their research influencing policy! 

We’ll be hosting more capacity-building events soon. Sign up to our mailing list to make sure you’re first to hear about them!